Month: February 2011

Birthday Surprises

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When I bought my new digital camera three years ago, I made sure it came in time for my oldest girl’s birthday. I wanted to make sure to get lots of pictures of the big day. For some, the camera sits on the shelf most of the time, but not on a birthday. The shutter goes wild while we celebrate.

Blowing out the candles is the moment that can’t be missed.

A Little Help

Wish

And there are the gifts.

Just What I Wanted

And then there are the surprises. 

While doing a photo a day last year, I noticed that some of my favorite pictures from birthdays weren’t about the birthday at all.

Aquarium

 

This was one of my favorite images of the whole year. It was taken while we were at the zoo on my youngest child’s birthday.

Last week it was my big girl’s birthday. It was unusually warm and we were back at the zoo . Again, my favorite image of the day didn’t happen around the cake. It happened unexpectedly at the zoo.

Enough of the Elephant House

I make sure to have the camera ready when the candles are lit but don’t leave it on the shelf the rest of the day.

 

Simple Technical Information: Leaving the camera in auto mode will not produce a cake and candle shot that shows the candlelight on your child’s face. In the dark room, the meter will tell the camera that there is not enough light and the flash will pop up. The candles’ light will be overpowered by the flash. If you simply turn off the flash, the camera will still be trying to get the whole frame to be well lit and will set the shutter speed too slow to get a sharp picture. Manual exposure is the answer. The problem is how quickly it happens. Those candles are melting! I make a guess and take some quick shots as the cake is coming out to fine tune. It does take practice and sometimes the moment passes. There’s always next year. 

Fresh

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My son wasn’t the only one excited by our most recent snowfall. I’m often looking for something new to photograph or a new way to photograph something I’ve seen many times before. I love getting out when snow has changed the world and even my backyard has something new to offer. 

When I go out on a morning like this, I hear this poem in my head. My first grade students learned it one winter when I was teaching. 

First Snow

Snow makes whiteness where it falls.

The bushes look like popcorn-balls.

The places where I always play, 

Look like somewhere else today.

Marie Louise Allen

Who Took the Snow?

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We walked out of the house and he said, “Who took the snow?” He is first suspect was his sister, “Was it Abery?” 

Some unusually warm days left our sledding hill green and muddy. He insisted on taking his sled out anyway. He trudged all the way to the top of the hill and sat down in his sled. When that didn’t work, he ran down the hill with the sled trailing behind. 

Three days later, he was very happy when he looked out the window and saw more snow falling. “Oh, fanks! Oh, fanks!” he said to the sky (not his sister).


“That was great!” 

Clean Fun

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Baths are practical and simple. A couple of kids in some soap and water and moments like these are common.

These were the moments before things got out of hand. They don’t care about a bathroom flood, but I do. First, I took the camera out into the hall to safety. Then, I returned and shouted, “Stop! Stop! Stop!”

There are no pictures of those sad moments after I ruined the fun.

Easy for You to Say

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Only a week or so into my 365 project last year, I was feeling discouraged. Outside it was cold and gray. Already, I was finding it hard think of anything new to photograph. I looked at friends’ 365 projects and thought, “Well, sure, if I lived in a sunny, gorgeous location or had a gear bag full of L-series lenses and fancy lighting equipment and I didn’t have to take three small children wherever I went, this would be easy. As it is, I’m toiling away with a 50mm lens on my 40D in gloomy old Pittsburgh with three kids in tow.”

I talked to my brother. He was living in San Francisco toting a Canon 5D Mark II with access to some interesting lenses and equipment. He felt like if only he wasn’t in an office all day with self-conscious adults… it’d be easy. 

I began to look at my circumstances differently.

When the weather is interesting, I can go outside.

Sometimes the messes created at my house are beautiful.

I can go to museums when they are empty.

The challenge, that doesn’t change with location, gear, or time alone, is to keep working regardless of how creative I’m feeling at the moment.

“Inspiration exists but it has to find us working.” – Pablo Picasso

Square One

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Games. Unlike so many things I begin, they have clear starting point, a list of rules, an object of the game and a finish line. Many times I have said to an angry or crying child, “It’s just a game.” Just? While I can picture the playing pieces flying when the board is tossed into the air, I have never seen one of my kids sigh and say, “Oh, right. It’s a game. I chose to play for fun.”

Last January, my brother, Joe, started a 365 Project on Flickr. He planned to post a photo on Flickr from every day of the year. Just three days in, he was feeling unsure about it.

I said, “Who cares what your pictures are like? The process of doing it every day will change you and your photography.”

I got off the phone. I folded a few towels and called him back. “It sounds like something I should do too.” We talked some more. I said, “Okay. I’ll do it. I’ll figure a few things out and start soon.” 

Joe said, “I’ll be looking for your photo later today.”

Game on.

I didn’t consider what was going on in the next week, month or year that would interfere with doing this kind of project or how the project would fit into my life. I didn’t have any idea of the kind of photos I would be taking for every day for a year. As far as sharing photos, I didn’t know what I was doing. I had posted some photos on Facebook and uploaded one photo to Flickr a year and a half before. But, Joe was waiting on the other side of the country for a picture, so I got started.

I finished that project about a month ago. 

It is in the same spirit that I’m starting this blog. I’ve figured out just enough to get started. I’ll figure the rest out as I go. It’s just a game.